[Cob] Coblist Digest, Vol 8, Issue 114

[Barbara Roemer]

Hi Mary Lou,

Several caveats:

We had a huge crew - perhaps fifty people, not all of whom were engaged in
the building (others were preparing food, tending kids, cleaning up,
supervising, etc.).

An enormous amount of work was completed ahead of time:
     - building plywood bins to hold the light straw clay
     - renting the forklift to lift the bins to height as the wall went up
     - all the foundation work, shear panels, and timberframe
     - all the light framing of the Larsen trusses
     - form boards fabricated (they had lips at top which made them easy to
raise for the next lift of straw clay
     - fabrication of the mixer (we went that route in the hope of
encouraging many others to build in this way, and we have carted the mixer
all over the state to assist in others' buildings)
     - staging all the materials for the straw clay, making test samples,
and training a few key people in operating the mixer and keeping the maw fed
with straw, clay, borax and water in the correct proportion
     - planning the food, the work crews (crew and jefe for each wall), the
work flow, the water and power to an off grid site

All that said, it was a very impressive feat to get so much done in a day.
You can see pics of the finished house  (bigger than I remember, but we just
did the Larsen trusses/straw clay infill on the lower level) by going to
Robert Laporte and Paula Baker's website, clicking on portfolios, and
selecting Weaver Hovemann:

http://www.econest.com/portfolio_images.php?rec_no=7

Regards,

Barbara



On Sun, Jul 4, 2010 at 12:00 PM, <coblist-request at deatech.com> wrote:

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>   1. Re: Cob photos (Rob Hayes)
>   2. Concerning the timber frame in fill/ clay straw in...
>      (Mary Lou McFarland)
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> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
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> Message: 1
> Date: Sat, 3 Jul 2010 11:18:23 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Rob Hayes <editable7 at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: [Cob] Cob photos
> To: Henry Raduazo <raduazo at cox.net>
> Cc: coblist at deatech.com
> Message-ID: <110889.34580.qm at web113205.mail.gq1.yahoo.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
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>
>
> Hey Henry,
> Thanks for those photos.
> It really looks like the wood chipper of yours is actually shattering the
> wood.  There is alot of surface area for the clay to attach which seems like
> it might help with the cob strength too?  The wood pile shed of yours is a
> clever idea and since we have a pile of treated fence poles here too maybe
> we should imitate your design.
>
>  Also, the woodchip texture you've obtained seems ideal for the Jean Pain
> method.  We will have to arrange for the use of a chipper like yours this
> fall in order to make the mass of compost to provide our heat.  I wonder,
> could you tell me what make & model your chipper is?  I'd like to imitate
> the texture you've gotten up here in Phila. this fall.
>  I wonder if that chipper of yours has ever processed the older coarse
> chips a second time?  That's what we are faced with here in order to deal
> with all the "donated" chips which come from the landscapers and tree
> surgeons who avoid their tip charges by dumping chips on our garden.  The
> coarser materials need to be chipped a 2nd time to make the chips
> biologically active enough to work in the eventual 50 ton compost pile.
>  We'll pile them on an old garage "pad" in an 18 foot diameter pile 11 feet
> high.  The expense of the coil of 1 1/4 pipe will be worth it if the compost
> can heat up the water inside.
>   I'm scrambling up the learning curve here about wood chippers.  If you
> can help inform us about them, I'll know how much fundraising to do this
> summer.
> Maybe we should be shopping for one like yours?
> thanks again,
>
>
>
>
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> ------------------------------
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> Message: 2
> Date: Sun, 4 Jul 2010 08:13:19 -0500
> From: Mary Lou McFarland <louiethefifth at hotmail.com>
> Subject: [Cob] Concerning the timber frame in fill/ clay straw in...
> To: "coblist at deatech.com" <coblist at deatech.com>
> Message-ID: <SNT120-W59A516D8682F084B1EC7CDB9B00 at phx.gbl>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
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>
> Concerning the timber frame in fill/ clay straw in fill .... does anybody
> have links or photos of that project Barbara was referring to?
>
> Ninety percent of the walls up in one day!?  That is just mindboggling!
>
> Mary Lou
>
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> End of Coblist Digest, Vol 8, Issue 114
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